Dancing girl - a description
Children of Stone: Voices in Crystal
In this segment, Marai, enhanced by the Children of Stone, has returned to his old home to get some supplies. From his distant old cave lookout, He sees the area is now occupied by brigands. He will have to be careful.
"The dim melody of mouth and bag pipes bleated sourly from the camp below, reminding the shepherd he had to hide until the men below were asleep...
Marai scanned the camp again, marveling at the clarity of his renewed vision. His sight had grown dim after many years of working in the sun.
Most things he saw from that great of a distance appeared to have soft edges. Now the sharp edges of distant sights were clearer than he had ever known them, even as a child. What he couldn't see, because some of the men were inside for the evening, he could sense. Twenty to thirty hearts were beating in the camp. Men were celebrating something, drinking strong liquor, and either passing out by the fire or trundling off to their tents to sleep. Looking closer, he saw a dozen men lolling drunkenly around the fire in the center of the camp. Their tents were put up in close formation.
A woman danced to the drums and pipes amid the hoots and huzzahs of those sober enough to still watch her.
They must have made their trade to the work crews today. Marai thought.
Now they celebrated late. They were making a young captive do a naked dance on this chilly night. For just a moment, the shepherd paused to watch the dance too. The woman was almost a dwarf. She was short and just as wide as she was tall. She was round like a melon, but bore the strange, erotic grace of a much more nubile creature. Something about her was so vibrant, Marai mused. When she moved, the few bangles she wore jiggled and floated like airy fleece. A warm, self-amused smile filled him, as her stubby hands circled up as high as they could leaving her huge, pendulous breasts and belly bobbling merrily to the undulating sway of her fat, high rump. Marai thought of the little carved stone or clay fertile woman figures the women always used to set up in the household or bury in the lettuce garden for the fertility of the family and the birth of children. He understood too well.
A Goddess Dance? How can a poor creature like that bring herself to grace these animals with such a holy dance? He thought, clearly stunned. She seemed happy enough...not too mistreated. He wondered.
Something sharp jabbed his ribs.
"Don't move. I can kill you, if you do." the hoarse voice strained, speaking in some mixed Akkad-Shinar dialect Marai could barely understand.
In this segment, Marai, enhanced by the Children of Stone, has returned to his old home to get some supplies. From his distant old cave lookout, He sees the area is now occupied by brigands. He will have to be careful.
"The dim melody of mouth and bag pipes bleated sourly from the camp below, reminding the shepherd he had to hide until the men below were asleep...
Marai scanned the camp again, marveling at the clarity of his renewed vision. His sight had grown dim after many years of working in the sun.
Most things he saw from that great of a distance appeared to have soft edges. Now the sharp edges of distant sights were clearer than he had ever known them, even as a child. What he couldn't see, because some of the men were inside for the evening, he could sense. Twenty to thirty hearts were beating in the camp. Men were celebrating something, drinking strong liquor, and either passing out by the fire or trundling off to their tents to sleep. Looking closer, he saw a dozen men lolling drunkenly around the fire in the center of the camp. Their tents were put up in close formation.
A woman danced to the drums and pipes amid the hoots and huzzahs of those sober enough to still watch her.
They must have made their trade to the work crews today. Marai thought.
Now they celebrated late. They were making a young captive do a naked dance on this chilly night. For just a moment, the shepherd paused to watch the dance too. The woman was almost a dwarf. She was short and just as wide as she was tall. She was round like a melon, but bore the strange, erotic grace of a much more nubile creature. Something about her was so vibrant, Marai mused. When she moved, the few bangles she wore jiggled and floated like airy fleece. A warm, self-amused smile filled him, as her stubby hands circled up as high as they could leaving her huge, pendulous breasts and belly bobbling merrily to the undulating sway of her fat, high rump. Marai thought of the little carved stone or clay fertile woman figures the women always used to set up in the household or bury in the lettuce garden for the fertility of the family and the birth of children. He understood too well.
A Goddess Dance? How can a poor creature like that bring herself to grace these animals with such a holy dance? He thought, clearly stunned. She seemed happy enough...not too mistreated. He wondered.
Something sharp jabbed his ribs.
"Don't move. I can kill you, if you do." the hoarse voice strained, speaking in some mixed Akkad-Shinar dialect Marai could barely understand.
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